Our school is fairly new to the whole FRC and wants a description of what a teachers responsiblities are as a club advisor. Is there anyone who has a club advisor description they are willing to share. They are looking at it from the view point that the Teacher is in charge of the team.

For example, at our school the advisor is not a paid position so they generally do not do much other than act as our representative to the school.

We used to have a paid position and that advisor acted more as a team coach. He would get us access to the room year-round and attend most if not all of our meetings. During the pre-season we would host team seminars and the coach would teach students how to do a specific thing on the team. During the build season he would attend meetings and guide students into making the robot. Finally in the competition season he would acquire school resources to get us a van or bus for transportation to the competition. He also acted as our main contact in TIMS.

What kind of description are you looking for? That way I can go into a little more detail on the position.

If it is a school team, then you have to follow all the rules, including conduct, the school has. The club adviser is responsible for that as well as being the final say in any conflicts. The adviser would also arrange excused absences for activities during the school day. Equivalent to the head coach on a sports team. The rules would be what ever the school has concerning competitive teams not really subject to amendment. What the teacher adviser actually does running the team would depend on the availability and strength of the other mentors. If you are a independent team with a school association everything gets fuzzy. Ideally of course, the students will be running the team with advice & guidance from the adviser & mentors.

The quirky thing is First does not have a lot of rules about team structure. The senior mentor as registered in Tims is in charge as for as they are concerned.

If a teacher undertakes the task of being a club advisor they should be the following:
-responsible party for team functions within school building, i.e meetings, build days/nights, permits for facility usage, travel plan approval(s), maintaining club standards as far as team member grades/attendance etc.

-team registrations via TIMS, now i encourage students to help me with bookkeeping and paperwork, however it is my responsibility.

-financial management

-chaperone on any trips, events etc

-basically the person who always gets into trouble (my schools usually cut me a lot of slack and understand how big an undertaking this is)

- best to have one person to start off, to not scare anyone, then i highly recommend approx 1 mentor/advisor per 10.
good luck

This may not be exactly what you are looking for but possibly it can help. In FIRST's flyer FRC page 2 includes a list of responsibilities for the lead mentor (http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles...HowToStart.pdf) Some of the task may overlap depending on how your team is structured.